It is a problem to both accurately detect the presence of and determine the locus of invasive agents, such as pathogens and cancers (malignant neoplasm), (collectively termed “invasive agents” herein) in a living organism (ex.—human, animal), as well as treat these invasive agents. Present cancer diagnostic and treatment methods (such as chemo-therapy and radiation therapy) are imprecise and can result in damage to the living organism in order to destroy the cancer cells.
Presently, a procedure is being used where nano-particles are directed to invasive agents (cancer cells) by the use of passive and active targeting methods. The passive targeting approach uses the size and shape of the nano-particles to enhance their uptake into cancer cells while the active targeting approach uses coatings applied to the nano-particles (such as an antigen) to enable the targeted uptake of the nano-particles by only those cells, cancer cells for instance, that are susceptible to the antigen coating. The size of the nano-particles is selected to enable the cancer cells to ingest the nano-particles, yet not be able to excrete the ingested nano-particles. The nano-particles can be heated via the use of a magnetic field to raise the temperature of the cancer cells, thereby killing the cancer cells; or the nano-particles can be formed to encapsulate cancer-killing drugs, which are released into the cancer cell by the application of the magnetic field.
However, this process is in the early stages of development and has yet to reach a level of maturity where the physical processes and their limitations are well understood. Existing cancer treatment techniques using nano-particles fail to provide the necessary coordination among the characteristics of the nano-particles, concentration of nano-particles, duration of treatment, and applied fields to enable the generation of precisely crafted fields and their application in a mode and manner to be effective with a high degree of accuracy.
Thus, there presently is no procedure that can be used to accurately detect the presence of cancer cells in a living organism or treat the cancer cells, once detected, to destroy the cancer cells, without serious negative effects on the living organism. Present diagnostic and treatment procedures are macro and non-specific in their approach and are ineffective or can result in damage to the living organism in order to destroy the cancer cells.